Here are some pics.. Going to paint the walls gray this week to bring back the vibe, but so far I am pumped...

The first noticed thing was the PUNCH that the API offered. The buss compressor is sick!

So happy.














Doc

DAMN is that one fine lookin' setup you got there! How's the new situation for tracking?

Not tracking these days. Just mixing what they give me. Really like the mix aspect better anyways.

Thanks for lookin...

All,
So I painted, got some frames from Mr. Dubay at www.readyacoustics.com and got the mix room all done up to my specs. ;-) Took a few clean shots tonight and figured I would throw them up for you all to see the new, improved mix room. I am planning on getting a professional photo guy here in the next week or so. Still need to put the frames on the corner traps, but just taking time.

The room itself sounds great and has a really cool vibe to mix in. Reminds me of the old place, but higher ceilings by over a foot and a half. Just a good sounding space.

Enjoy,
Doc

All,
So I have been mixing a Indie release for a month now and the HD rig was definitely what I needed to get creative. It just made the sound pop in my mind more I guess. The room all done up helped too. The songs are up on my myspace page, at least 4 of them are. Not too shabby, pretty straight forward Rock. There are a few on the record that I dcall "filler" as they just kinda sit. I tried to make them move more, but had nothing. The 4 up are my favorites for sure. I hope to finish the record this week and get it off to mastering in New York with my guy I use out there.

Good time ahead, and check out the songs when ya can. The player will startup automatically.

Enjoy,
Doc

Mixes sound good!

I have a question: Where did you get those lamps(those are lamps right?) next to your LCDs?

hahahhaha the lil mini lava lamps...

TARGET man. 13 bucks... Now that is funny that you noticed that with all the gear everywhere. ;-)

TARGET!

Thanks for listening.

This is what you NEED!

http://www.lavacolossus.com/

WOW!

Doc

I've got to tell you, your design experience shows up, very tasteful interior man, I dig it!

And those lamps rock, I'm gonna visit target tomorrow.

Thanks!

Thanks man

Another new Tune up. "Nicotene" and 1 more to go before this record is done and off to master in New York. First song on my player on my page below is the new one.

Enjoy,
Doc

All,
So in the past 2 weeks a lot has happened in the realm of Chris.

1. I finally got a job again with my company. No more overhead or worries that they would let me go. 4 months of overhead is a record, and I am lucky to have had it. Literally no work, all play, marketing for studio and more play. Defense work I tell ya... I is god, but mixing is cooler.

The job however is taking me South of Denver, past the domain of Denver, to the North Colorado Springs area. Well, the commute was going to be 150 miles per day round trip so I said "F" that and decided to

2. BUY A HOUSE! Looking in Castle Rock, I decided it was still too far and not what I want. I ended up going to Monumnet which is on the North tip of the Springs about 10 miles outside the area. I ened up finding a 4 bed, 5 bath 3300 sq foot place with plenty of house space for a new TBR STUDIO nestled on a half acre or so f land. No real noise from the neighbors as they are 200 feet away minimal.

So the studio design process has been in the works as the basement is really big and will allow for a sound room, drum room, and 2 other rooms to track in. Joel from Ready Acoustics (endorser) was nice enough to really help me out in the design idea and referred me to his master of chaos Scott to help with ideas. We came up with the pics below. It will be a slow process as the new mortgage will be more than I had before, but with business the way it is now, all should be well. 3 records in the making now, 2 from back East and 1 here as well as 2 from a producer on Atlantic Records that may start soon, all should be well.

The BIG PLAN is to get setup for MIXING first, then build the next room out for dub, etc. The smaller rooms will NOT be that hard. The ultimate goal is to save up and buy the API 1608 Console for tracking and MIXING. Get rid of the current summing system (API 8200's and the 7800) and use the API console to track with and then mix (sum) back thru in the same manner as I do now. That way I have the 16 channels of PRE with EQ that I want as well as 8 more flavors if needed to equal 24 channels total. I will need the console and the Apogee AD-16X to go in, use the DA-16X to go back out and setup to profiles in Pro Tools, one to track, one to Mix and call it a day.

That is the BIG PLAN. Right now I just need to get into the house, get setup and start the build.

Here are the ideas that we are still working on.

Man, you must have a lot of energy to move again.

How about a wall in a form of a polycylindrical separating your control room from your "live" room?

The main room wall will be mason rock. It is for the drum room really, but will act as a diffusor and look good in the same time. The guy I am working with is pretty spectacular in the acoustics of small spaces. Lots of research done and tested with him. Pretty happy with it. We had all types of designs, but for asthetics, it realy does not matter for sound. This will look good as well as sound great. The wood panel in the sound room will be a poly wall though for the back of the room.

More to follow.

So here is the roughed up wall to divide the larger basement room. The bigger part will be the control room. You can see a part of the desk lying on the floor for the size. That is a Argosy desk with one rack bay on the left and the C24 holder. Pretty good size. Wood floors will be in and the drywall and electrical go in this week. Wood floors afterwards. I am doing a glass window that is a half in on one side and 5/9th on the other. The other 3 rooms will be built out once I get rolling. I have 3 projests to get going on to make some cash back then I will start. The patch panels will be custom made from (http://www.rcicustom.com/) so that will be sweet.

Initial plans are this:









There is a separate AMP room too that is not on the design that is 12 x 12 non squared and concrete that should be cool.

Here is the roughed up new framing. The lights are out tomorrow and a pair of recessed cans in each one will be replaced.














I will keep you all updated with the build. Hopefully it will be close to done by next week. I need to start mixing.

Doc

Doc, that looks SICK!!! Next time I'm in Colorado I'll have to swing out to CR and check it out (if that's cool with you, of course).

BTW, if you don't mind me asking, how do you go about pulling down the mix project you've gotten? I've been trying to do more of that sort of thing, but, as always, work is a pain to come by.

Here are a few more pics with the insulation in. The drywall is going in this weekend, (2 layers of 5/8ths on each side) then the final touches with the door and windows. I then will need to put the wood floors in and get the treatments up. Should be good when it is all done. The ceiling lights were taken out and replaced with recessed can lights. Much better look I think. No more track lights. The windows will be a half inch on one side and 5/8ths on the other. Should be sweet. Double doors eventually but not until I start tracking.

So far so good.








As for the clients? It is all word of mouth and Google. For some reason if you google Freelance Audio Engineer I come up like 6th. Kinda cool.

Doc

Here is an update with the drywall. Should be taped and the first layer of mud up tomorrow. THen the texture on Tuesday. The rest of the trim work on Wed or Thurs and the glass in shortly after that. Then the wood floors go in that I picked up today. Going to do the live room in the same long plank wood floors to keep the feel. I think that the booth and the smaller tracking room will stay carpet, but I am not sure yet. So far so good. it has cost more than I figured, but it should turn out great.










It is coming along slowly. I hope to have it up and running at least to MIX after the holiday.

Wow!! Really nice, that's a beautiful area of Colorado.
I noticed the bottom plates are spaced with a bolt or spacer pin. Floating walls??? Is this for acoustic dampening??
Or a building code?

Very Nice

The float was code for Colorado. Due to the ground potential movement they float it to allow for slight shift if it ever happens.

So here is a generic video of the room. It was a quick and dirty of the build so far. The lighting is a little bad, but you can at least get the jist of the room "un treated" and what it will become. Listen to what happens as I walk into the carpet room. Cannot wait to get the treatment in.

Enjoy...

http://www.tbrstudio.com/Video/buildpart1.MPG

Doc

BTW: This was the sunset the other night out the back deck the day before we got dumped on with snow.